THE EIDER DUCK. 245 
haunts are to the southward, while its summer life 
is passed far away to the north. 
Leaving the Canvass-backs in company with the 
Ring-necks and Ruddy Ducks, the beautiful Bird 
Duck, and the Velvet Duck, with its coating of black, 
we pass on to the well-known Eider Duck. This 
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Eider Duck. 
elegant bird, which inhabits the northern portions 
of both continents, must, for various reasons, be 
looked upon with great interest by the student of 
Nature; and the value of its down, as a promoter of 
ease and comfort, must claim for it equal celebrity 
with the Canvass-back. In some localities their nests 
are usually built upon rocky precipices which over- 
hang the ocean, and are lined with the soft down 
which the female plucks from her breast. In those 
countries where this down is collected as an article 
of commerce, in order to increase the quantity pro- 
duced in one season, the nest is deprived of its eggs 
ri a 
